The Colton Bride Read online

  Her brow furrowed. “A pickle?”

  “And some ice cream,” he added.

  Her eyes lightened as her hand dropped from her hair to her tummy. “Oh, I don’t think I’ll ever crave pickles and ice cream. That sounds totally disgusting.”

  “You think so now but wait until that little bean really starts working on you. Who knows, you might wind up craving peanut butter and peppermints.”

  “Or meatballs and marshmallows,” she added, her eyes lighting with the shine he remembered from long ago as the silly conversation eased the tension that had been between them.

  “What do you normally do after dinner? Besides sit with Jethro?” he asked.

  “Sometimes we all gather in the great room and chat. Of course, until a couple of months ago there was Dirk and many evenings I spent my time with him.”

  Gray fought against a surge of unexpected jealousy as he thought of the man who might have married Catherine, the man who had fathered the child she carried.

  “I’m afraid I’m probably going to be a lot more boring than Dirk,” he said.

  She smiled at him, a genuine smile that shot a ball of heat into the pit of his stomach. “If you were asleep you wouldn’t be as boring as Dirk.”

  “Then why were you dating him?”

  She leaned back and frowned thoughtfully. “Dirk and I kept finding ourselves at the same events. Initially I thought he was charming and when he asked me out I accepted and suddenly we were dating. I guess I got caught up in the idea of wife and motherhood and he was there and available.”

  She shook her head dismissively. “But apparently, Dirk is having some financial issues and thought marrying me would instantly bail him out. Four years was too long for him to wait for that bailout.” She rested her hand on her stomach. “I got what I wanted and this baby is all I need to be happy.”

  “I’m sure eventually you’ll find some man you love and who loves you and that will complete your vision of a happily-ever-after kind of family,” Gray replied.

  He was sure that the man Catherine bound herself to in the future would be something quite different than a ranch foreman with manure on his boots and little money in his pocket.

  Their conversation remained fairly pleasant and the mood in the room was relaxed until Catherine said she was exhausted and ready for bed.

  Gray followed her into the bedroom where he pulled down the bedspread and tried not to think about the torture to come.

  As she disappeared into the bathroom to get into her night clothes and prepare for bed, Gray tried to keep his mind off the kiss they’d shared, off how badly he wanted to touch her soft skin, run his fingers through her silky hair. He had to rid himself of those kinds of thoughts. They had no place in this situation.

  She came out of the bathroom clad in a short navy silk nightgown that displayed her long shapely legs and smelling of that provocative scent that was hers alone. A knot formed in Gray’s chest, a knot of unwanted desire, of unexpected lust.

  He went into the bathroom immediately after she exited and stripped off his clothes and started a cold shower to cool his inappropriate physical attraction to her.

  Lust for her definitely hadn’t been in this arrangement he’d made with her. There had been other women since her, a waitress who worked in a café near the Montana ranch where he’d worked, a pretty blonde dress shop owner who had captured his attention for a couple of months. But nobody in his life had ever managed to stir such a hunger inside him as Catherine.

  Ten minutes beneath the cool spray and he felt controlled and clear on what his role was with Catherine...he was a glorified bodyguard with a marriage license.

  He dried off and pulled a clean pair of boxers from where he’d stacked them the day before in a large built-in cabinet. He thought about pulling on a T-shirt, but he’d never slept in one in his entire life and didn’t intend to start now.

  He came out of the bathroom to find Catherine already in the bed, facing away from him and tucked in a ball as close to the edge as humanly possible.

  He moved his gun to the nightstand next to his side of the bed and then turned out the lamp, which plunged the room into darkness.

  Easing beneath the sheets on his side, there was an ocean of bed between them. “Catherine, you’re so close to the edge that if you sneeze or cough you’re going to fall off. There’s plenty of room for you to relax.”

  Her faint sigh and shift of movement let him know she’d moved away from the edge of the bed and closer to the center. He squeezed his eyes closed, trying not to breathe in the scent of her, attempting to banish the vision of her in her navy nightgown that had accentuated the spill of her long blond hair and the fullness of her breasts.

  He had to remember his place here. He had to keep in mind that he was nothing more than a hired gun, his job to keep her safe from any evil that attempted to come near her.

  When he’d made the suggestion of the marriage of convenience, he hadn’t thought about moments like this, about lying next to her in the dark and wanting her despite any rational desire to the contrary.

  He hadn’t thought about how the roar of old memories would resound in his head, taking him back to the time when he thought she was his forever.

  That had all come crashing down when he’d overheard part of a phone conversation she’d had with one of her friends. He’d heard her say exactly what would be expected of her when it came to marriage and nothing she said included her undying love for a ranch hand. Nothing she’d said had indicated that Gray would ever be the man she wanted permanently in her life.

  That’s when he’d run. Filled with busted dreams and a broken heart, he’d gone to Montana where he’d learned to hate her for toying with him, for pretending he meant anything to her.

  Water under the bridge, he reminded himself. Teenage angst and first-love drama, that’s all it had been. They’d both survived and grown up without too many scars left behind.

  One thing was certain: he’d never let her know that she still held a tiny place in his heart. He’d never let her know that he still desired her.

  His job was to keep her safe until the danger to her had been resolved, and then his job was to let her go.

  Chapter 10

  Warm. She was surrounded by a luxurious warmth that made her want to cuddle into it, reluctant to fully awaken. Instead she tried to return to the dream she’d been having, a dream where she’d been holding a little boy with sandy hair like how Gray’s turned in the summer. The child also had blue eyes like hers.

  She wanted to go back to the dream, but instead once full consciousness claimed her she realized the warmth that she reveled in was Gray spooned around her backside, one of his arms flung across her waist as if to capture her and hold her prisoner against him.

  Frozen in shock, stunned by the pleasure, she remained unmoving. Her body took in the sweet sensations of his intimate nearness. He was obviously sound asleep, his breathing deep and even as it warmed the nape of her neck. She knew she should roll away from him, break the embrace that felt so safe and so right, but she didn’t.

  She simply existed in the nearness of the man she’d once believed would be with her for the rest of her life. She still didn’t know exactly what forces had been at play when he’d left her and the Dead River Ranch so many years ago. What was important was that he was here with her now when she needed his safety and strength.

  It was obvious they weren’t destined to reclaim the love they had once had. She was aware that they had both grown up and were very different people than they had been as young, fanciful teenagers. She could only appreciate the fact that he must feel something for her in order to step into the role he’d taken on.

  The room held the faint light of predawn whispering through the window. She knew normally he’d be awake and outside tending to chores, but he’d arranged for Dylan to take care of the morning duties and supervise the other workers as they went about business as usual.

  This was probably one of
the first mornings in his life that he was sleeping past dawn. The last thing she wanted to do was stir in any way that might wake him up.

  She must have fallen back asleep for when she opened her eyes again she was in the bed alone and the sound of the shower came from the bathroom. The bathroom door was open as if to make sure if she screamed for any reason he’d hear her and rush to the rescue. She tried not to imagine a naked, dripping Gray rushing to save her from harm.

  She rolled over on her back and stared at the ceiling where the morning light danced bright imps of sunshine through the dappled curtains.

  Who was behind the kidnapping attempts both on her and little Cheyenne? Who had killed Allison? And Jenny Burke in the kitchen pantry?

  Initially everyone thought Trip had killed Jenny. They’d had a relationship, and days before her death Jenny had been sporting a large diamond ring. The day after her death the ring was found in Trip’s room, instantly putting him at the top of the suspect list.

  Trip had said that he and Jenny had broken up and he’d taken the ring back and with no other evidence to tie him to the kitchen that night or the murder itself, the crime remained unsolved.

  Was it any wonder she was reluctant to leave her bed? Was it any wonder she was grateful for Gray’s crazy marriage proposition that suddenly didn’t feel so crazy anymore?

  They’d made it through their first night together as a married couple and if the worst thing she had to put up with was waking to find his near-naked body warming hers, then she could deal with that. She just couldn’t lose sight of the fact that he was a temporary fix, not a permanent solution.

  The sound of the shower stopped and minutes later Gray came out of the bathroom dressed for the day. Catherine sat up and offered him a good-morning smile. “So, what are the plans for the day?” she asked.

  He sat on the cushioned bench at the foot of the bed. “Before too long I need to check in with Dylan at the stables and I assume you have things to take care of at the petting barn. After that, I have no idea unless you have something specific on the day’s agenda.”

  She swept a strand of her hair away from her face and shook her head. “Nothing on my agenda for the day.”

  “Okay, then after we get through the morning chores we’ll just hang out here.”

  “I just need to take a quick shower. We can get some breakfast after we finish the chores.” She slid out of bed, acutely conscious of his gaze following her as she went into the bathroom.

  She wasn’t a high-maintenance kind of woman. She showered, quickly dried her hair and pulled it up into a ponytail. She dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved pink fleece sweatshirt and then with a touch of blush, a whisper of mascara proclaimed herself ready to face the day...the first day of her married life with Gray.

  By the time she’d left the bathroom he had moved into the sitting room. He smiled at her appearance. Even though his lips moved up in the appropriate gesture, there was a lack of real emotion behind it. His mouth compressed into a thin slash as he pointed her to the chaise.

  “We need to set the ground rules before we leave this room,” he said.

  She sank down on the chaise, noting that he now wore his holster and gun. She knew when he was outside he always had his gun. Most of the ranch workers carried guns when they were out in the pastures. They never knew when they might encounter a hungry gray wolf or a bear threatening livestock.

  But seeing his gun on his hip now was a reminder that he wasn’t just anticipating a danger of wildlife, but rather a danger of the human kind.

  “We never separate. No matter what happens, no matter who calls either of us away for anything, we don’t go alone. We go together,” he said.

  “I’m all for that,” she said as her thoughts drifted back to the nights she’d been attacked, most recently to the night Allison had died right here in this very room.

  Her gaze drifted to the place where Allison had fallen dead just inside the window and an icy finger walked up her back at the same time a wealth of grief filled her.

  “Catherine.”

  She looked back at him.

  His eyes held a hint of softness. “You can’t think about what’s already happened. We can’t do anything about that. We have to stay focused on the here and now.”

  “I know.”

  “The second rule is that if I tell you to do something, no matter how crazy it might sound at the time, you do it,” he continued. She eyed him warily. “You have to trust me one hundred percent and know that if I tell you to do something it’s for your own protection.”

  She nodded. “I just can’t believe everything that has happened around here over the past couple of months. I can’t believe that I no longer know who to trust, that I can’t figure out the good guys from the bad ones.”

  “That makes two of us,” he admitted. His eyes narrowed. “But one thing is for sure. No bad guys are going to get to you without killing me first, and I’m a tough man to kill.”

  “I hope so. The last thing I want on my conscience is somebody else’s death.” Especially his, she thought. Even though they’d had virtually no relationship for the past nine years, for the past four that he had been back at Dead River Ranch his mere presence here had been strangely comforting to her.

  She’d often stand at one of the windows in the house and watch him go about his day, drifting in and out of the stables, heading out on horseback to check on things or standing with a couple of men and giving them instructions.

  Although she didn’t want to admit it to herself, he still owned a small piece of her heart, a piece that she couldn’t allow to grow and flourish.

  She got up from the chaise and gave him a teasing smile. “Come on, cowboy, the day is wasting.”

  He rose from the chair and took her elbow in his hand, guiding her out of the suite door. “Stuck together like glue,” he reminded her.

  It was early enough in the morning that they managed to sneak out of the house without running into either family or staff.

  The dawn air was brisk, invigorating as the sun finally rose above the horizon and shot shimmering golden light across the land and outbuildings.

  “It’s beautiful this time of morning,” Catherine said on their way to the stables. She cast him a sideways glance. “I’m rarely up this early in the morning.”

  “I know. What woke you? I hope it wasn’t me getting out of bed. I tried to be as quiet as possible.”

  “No, it wasn’t you.” She tried not to think about those moments of enjoying his warmth cuddled around her. “I guess I was just finished sleeping.”

  “I imagine you’ll be doing more sleeping as that baby grows. I don’t know much about pregnancy, but I would guess you’re going to tire easier than normal.”

  “I’ll deal with it all as it happens,” she replied and then glanced up at him and smiled. “I’ll deal with throwing up in the mornings, sleeping until noon and raging hormones as long as my baby is healthy.”

  “How do you feel about mucking out stalls, mixing grain and grooming horses?” he asked, a light tone in his voice that she hoped stayed there for the remainder of the day.

  “I’m game for whatever you need me to do, partner.”

  He grinned, a real, full smile that warmed her from head to toe.

  At that moment Dylan stepped out of the stables to greet them. “Well, well, if it isn’t the newlyweds, up and around already at the crack of dawn.”

  “Hi, Dylan.” Catherine had always liked Dylan, who had grown up here on the ranch with all of them. Dylan was the only man other than Jethro who managed to gentle Jethro’s temperamental, fiery black stallion, Midnight. He was magic with animals and people, and she knew that he and Gray were good friends.

  “Miss Catherine.” He clapped a hand on Gray’s shoulder. “I hope this dusty old cowboy isn’t giving you too hard a time.”

  She smiled at Gray and then at Dylan. “So far so good,” she replied. She had a feeling Dylan knew their marriage was an arrangement
rather than a true testimony of love.

  Gray and Dylan were close enough that Gray would have shared with his friend if he’d been secretly dating Catherine over the past few months. There was no way that Dylan would believe that Gray and Catherine’s marriage was real and based on love. It was okay with her that Dylan knew the truth. She trusted Dylan almost as much as she trusted Gray.

  They all stepped inside the stable and as the two men talked about work, Catherine zoned out of the conversation and instead found herself wondering if and when the danger to herself and others on the ranch would ever pass.

  Who was behind it all? Who in the house had unlocked her window to allow a kidnapper access to her? Who had killed Faye Frick, Jenny Burke and now Allison Murray?

  Would Gray still be around playing husband to her when her belly really began to swell? Would he still be at her side when the baby was finally born?

  Surely not, and she shouldn’t entertain visions of him next to her in the delivery room, holding a new little being in a blue or pink blanket.

  Still, the momentary vision that filled her head of that particular event occurring pulled a softness from deep inside her, a softness toward the man who had broken her heart and now protected her life.

  It was a softness she quickly shoved away. A single night of mock marriage was one thing, a lifetime of a real marriage to Gray was impossible.

  * * *

  “I haven’t forgotten what I promised you,” Gray told Dylan. “And I plan on getting started digging in the next day or two.”

  Dylan nodded. “I appreciate it, but I understand you have other things on your hands now.”

  “I feel like you two are talking in secret code,” Catherine said.

  Gray looked at Dylan, seeking silent permission to let Catherine know what he’d promised his friend. Dylan nodded without hesitation. “We’ll talk about it later,” Gray told Catherine. “When we’re in the petting barn or back in our suite.”

  He could see her curiosity piqued by his words, but there were too many people in the stables for him to talk about Dylan’s request of help right now.